ABC/ Lou RoccoOnce a member of the legendary funk-soul group The Commodores, Lionel Richie knows a thing or two about the music industry.

The Grammy award-winning solo artist now believes it’s “a talent business,” according to an interview with the United Arab Emirates-based multimedia organization 7 Days.

“I think truthfully there was a period of time, maybe 10 years ago, where we threw the baby out with the bath water, meaning — we made the business corporate,” Richie says.

In a world where social media is just as important to an artist’s image as his or her body of artistic work, the recording artist admits that he is still trying to wrap his head around digital platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and their effects on people’s minds, Richie says.

“I’m still trying to digest this in terms of what it’s actually doing to us as a world. I think what we’re doing is taking the intrigue, the magic of social skills and taking that out and kind of replacing it with something false and phony,” Richie maintains.

“What I try to tell my kids every day is you’re famous but you’re ‘Instagram famous.’ There’s a difference,” he adds.